The end of industry, the return of Heroes: Book one
by LoreMaster1
Summary: Its the end of an age, now deemed the second kingdom by most, and a new kingdom comes...
1. Prologue

Prologue

"Run boy! Do you want the bandits to blooming get you!" roared a hulking man, with glowing blue lines shining upon his skin, his teeth gritted in exertion as he continued to keep up the barrier of flames keeping a group of bandits out of the small cavern they were in.

The muffled shouts of bandits could be heard as beads of sweat appeared on the man's forehead. The glowing blue lines witch pulsed throughout his skin peaked then went almost grey for a few seconds. The man collapsed to one knee, but quickly arose again, the blue lines already starting to glow once more. In one of his hands he had started to weave another spell, this one of a different nature than the last.

A boy, barely ten years of age, scuttled away, peeking though a stack of boxes, as the flames receded and the man unsheathed a sword which hung at his side. The bandits came in and encircled the man, crossbows and cleavers raised menacingly. The man seemingly threw the spell he weaved at the bandit leader, who flew backwards hitting his head against the wall with a sharp crack, before ducking as a bandit shot the man in the back, trying to catch the man off guard. The man raised up his hand and the bandits were impaled by mystical blades. The that parried the blow of the only bandit lucky enough for the blades to have missed him. Walking up to the bandit leader, the man crouched down, a smile playing on his lips. Slapping the bandit leader, stirring him from his slumber, he put his blade to the neck of the bandit leader.

"Wha- what are you" mumbled the bandit leader, delirious from hitting his head on the wall, skin turning grey with fear.  
"A hero" replied the man before shoving his blade forward…

Authors Notes:

Now I know this is short, but this is to set the scene. The events of this chapter actually happen at the end of book one and will be done in more detail.


	2. Chapter One: The Blind Woman

Chapter One: The Blind Woman.

A woman walked through the streets of Brightwall, unobserved to all but a child looking out a window. When the woman passed under the boys window, she looked up, revealing glowing bluish-white eyes, and smiled before moving on. The street echoed with her footsteps, barely having being touched by the collapse of industrialism after the Hero king died and a rebel organisation had destroyed the factories and plants where Industrialism had been housed

The boy tried to see where she went, but as she went on, the mist enveloped her. Sighing, the boy went to his bed, not yet realising what he had seen. As he went into a deep slumber, he remembered one thing before sleep claimed him: _She had glowing eyes! Why does she have glowing eyes, no one has glowing eyes!_

"Rise child, it is daybreak. You have a full day of work ahead of you" said the boy's father, Yoseph.

"Do I have to father" groaned the boy as he arose from his bed, not remembering the strange woman.

"Yes Arthur, winter is coming and we don't want to be caught unprepared for it… winter has been getting harsher these past few years" Yoseph mused.

"Alright, father" the boy, Arthur, replied.

As Yoseph left the room, Arthur put on his clothes and went out, trying to remember something important. As he met up with his father, who was already chopping wood for the fires, he saw a flash of red fabric that was gone in an instant. Looking where the fabric had been for a few seconds, he was jolted back into reality when his father called for him and gave him the axe before leaving. Chopping the wood, a man came up behind him and grabbed him by the shoulder. Struggling, Arthur could not overcome the strength of the man.

"Quiet, I'm saving your life" whispered the man, who wasn't a man but a woman.

Dragged to a spot near the town centre, that was secluded from most eyes, he saw his captor was larger than the largest men, her arms practically nothing but muscle, though her mass of red hair was greying at the temples. One of her great hands closed around Arthur's arm, completely encircling it. The city gates shuddered and fell forward and a tall man stepped through.

"Oh dear, it looks like you have dirtied my coat" mused the man, before shooting at a pole with a gun, one of the few left since Industrialism collapsed. The bullet rebounded and hit a man next to the tall man right in the forehead.

"Damn that Reaver" muttered the woman.

Reaver, who had been the main Industrialist tycoon before its collapse, waited as his men dragged the people of Brightwall out from hiding, including Yoseph…

"Now, you will all come with me to rebuild the factories that were destroyed, or you will be shot, you will then work in these factories until you die, or you will be shot, you will do everything I say, or, you guessed it, will be shot," cackled Reaver, before a woman in red and white robes came out, the same woman from the night before, Arthur realised, "Ah, Theresa, long time no see, and here I was hoping you were dead! Well, tatty-bye!"

"These people will not go with you Reaver, Industrialism is dead, it is not returning" replied the woman, Theresa.

"Well, how rude" Reaver threw up his arm and his men shot all of the townspeople, without a second thought.

The woman with the mass of greying red hair put a hand over Arthur's mouth, while he watched with a growing horror as his father collapsed with an arrow protruding from his ribs.

"NO!" A man yelled, before all of Reaver's men exploded into flames and were reduced to ash.

A man came out blue lines glowing throughout his skin, which was the dark brown of Samarklanders.

"Why Garth, it is a veritable family reunion! I thought I killed you!" exclaimed Reaver, "let me guess Hammer is hiding out around here somewhere!"

As the man, Garth, went to reply, Arthur slipped out of the woman's grasp and rushed to the fallen body of his father, tears streaming down his face and the woman close behind him.

"Well hello Hammer! I knew it, well then tatty-bye" said Reaver, before leaving through the destroyed gate.

The woman, Hammer placed a hand on Arthur's shoulder, kneeling down next to him.

"I'm sorry, I know what it's like to lose a father" said Hammer.

"Come with us, your chance for revenge will come, I promise you" said Theresa, placing a hand on Arthur's other shoulder.

"Tell me what I need to do" said Arthur.

Theresa smiled. Then there was nothing but darkness.


	3. Chapter Two: Beginning of a Hero

Chapter Two: Beginning of a Hero

Arthur knelt at his father's grave, tears streaming down his cheeks. Hammer placed a massive hand on his shoulder and knelt next to him. For a few minutes they sat in silence before Hammer spoke.

"I know what it's like to lose a father, but you can't let grief consume you, come on Theresa wants you" said Hammer, rising up.

Arthur remained at his father's grave, as Hammer left Theresa appeared out of nowhere.

"Arise, you are doing no good sitting at your father's grave and wasting away," said Theresa "if you continue to waste away all is lost and I may as well have let Reaver take you to work in his factories."

"What is lost, everything that I ever loved died. My mother died giving birth to me, my sister died at the hands of bandits, and now this" replied Arthur.

"If you do not embrace your destiny, heroes are lost and as is Albion, and Samarkand and Aurora, and the lands still unknown to us" stated Theresa.

"Why me then, what makes me so special."

"You are the grandson of the bastard child of the old hero king" Theresa placed a hand on his soldier "the line of heroes that you belong to has given birth to some of the most powerful heroes ever seen. The Hero of Oakvale, the Hero of Bowerstone, the Hero of Brightwall"

"What about Garth and Hammer and You then, where do you and they come in"

"Garth was a Hero of will, in the time of the old hero king; Hammer was the Hero of strength. Nearly Six hundred years ago, my brother was the hero of Oakvale."

"But that would make the both of them over eighty! Hammer only looks as if she was in her forties, and how are you so old!"

"Some descendants of the first Archon were given the gift of immortality; fate decreed that all three of us are immortals."

Theresa got up and Arthur followed, unable to process this information that had just been told to him.

Arthur and Theresa went to the city's main courtyard, Garth and Hammer were almost in a fight, Garth was charging his shock spell and Hammer had her hammer in one hand and a broadsword in the other. The two circled each other wearily; Hammer swung her sword then charged. Garth quickly rolled out of the way, and shot Hammer with a bolt of lightning. Hammer leapt out of the way, the ground shacked in her wake as she went back down.

"Is that all you've got!" exclaimed Hammer.

"I was going to ask the same of you!" replied Garth.

Theresa cleared her throught and the two jumped, Theresa raised her eyebrows then smiled wryly.

"I was hoping the two of you would be a bit more mature than this when the time the two of you have been called upon to help the coming age" said Theresa before spinning off.

"Well… to be any good at strength or skill, without being a true hero of that specific discipline," said Garth "you must have a modicum of Will power."

Garth had begun his training by telling Arthur to meditate, and only when time meant nothing, would Arthurs training truly begin. On the sixth day, after around ten minutes, Garth told Arthur to stop. Arthur got up; believing that Garth had finally ran out of patience. When he went outside, the night breeze blew upon his face, and he sighed contentedly, before stopping in his tracks as he realized that it was night, and only moments before it had been day.

"Didn't you know," Garth chuckled "good."

**A/N: Well, this is a short chapter I know, they will be like this until around chapter five or six, when the going gets good. During training it will be always be short, because it will get repetitive.**

**Disclaimer Notes: The training sequence was partially inspired by the training in the book White Tiger by Kylie Chan.**


End file.
